Blood Leverage (Bloodstone Chronicles Book 1) (34 page)

“Oh my goodness gracious.” Mayor Morrisey’s hand flew to her throat. Then, with a shake of her head, I saw the fluttery female drop away, leaving our practical mayor in its place. “Tell me everything.”

As I finished, Diane cast her eyes upward with a sigh. “Well, shit. This is one hell of a mess. I can’t even imagine how the community will react to the scandal of another hearing. Especially one for attempted murder. Especially one with so little evidence.”

“If you’re referring to the lack of a dead body, I can’t say I’m sorry about that.”

The mayor’s cheeks flushed as she backpedaled. “No, of course not. I’m just saying that this will come down to a he-said-she-said sort of thing. There’s little proof as to what happened.”

As my own face flushed, Diane lifted a finger in an unmistakable gesture for me to wait. “Don’t misunderstand me, Rory. I believe you. There’s no good reason for Robert to be here. That said, Robert might argue that you somehow lured him here, that you could’ve written the note at any time, that
you
threatened
his
life and he grabbed the knife to defend himself. And frankly,” she tilted her head to look down at Robert, “our esteemed gatekeeper clearly lost the encounter. It’s not much to base an attempted murder conviction on.”

It was as good an opening as any.

“What if I don’t want a murder conviction?”

Diane blinked twice. “I’m sorry, but you don’t want Robert to go to trial? I mean, we can’t press charges without you, but why would you possibly want him to go free?”

Sitting heavily on one of the dining chairs, I clasped my hands together. “Here’s the thing, Diane. I don’t think Robert is a danger to other people,” I said. “Besides, I don’t want the scandal of a trial any more than you, and, as you pointed out, there’s a semi-decent chance he might be found not guilty. In which case I’d gain nothing.”

Skirting around Robert’s limp form, Diane sat down across the table from me. “So what do you propose?”

Nervously, I fumbled with the latch on Nicky’s blood-letting kit, before realizing what I was doing and shoving it aside. “I want Robert to agree to voluntary banishment, and I want him to leave the square tonight.”

Diane pursed her lips as she mulled it over. “After all of this I have to agree it would be best if he left, but why would he agree as opposed to taking his chances at trial?”

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “He’d agree if the alternative was having his daughter’s whereabouts exposed. She didn’t leave to get married, ma’am, and my mother tracked her down in Toronto with the help of… certain colleagues.”

“Sara Rouchecrag? In Toronto? Good grief, that certainly explains Robert’s dislike of your family.” Heedless of potential evidence, Diane picked up my ‘confession’ and began fanning herself with it. “I’ll push for voluntary banishment, but I’m going to wait for my husband to arrive before I wake him up.”

“Your husband?”

She nodded. “If Robert agrees to voluntary banishment, my husband and some of his hunting crew will begin the trek to escort him through the tunnels to 4111.”

My ears pricked up. “Wait. If Robert agrees to voluntary banishment, why take him to one of the prison squares?”

Diane smiled. “Because former gatekeepers are automatically assured places as guards if they’ll agree to a ten year commitment. It’s a good incentive for Robert to both go away and stay away. If he agrees to go, he’ll work in a job very similar to the one he has now, with similar pay and good
respect. But if he leaves, he’ll be in violation of his contract, which is penalized with a considerable fine. It’s a good place for him, and 4111 is a great distance away from here. With a little luck we can prepare the paperwork and send him on his way in time for me to make an appearance at the party, though I’ll be appallingly late.”

Twisting the delicate silver watch on her wrist, Diane made a face. “In fact, Rory, why don’t you hop in the shower and get ready? You can just take your dress right into the bathroom with you. I’ll babysit Robert.”

I stared at the mayor with disbelief. “After all this, you expect me to go a party? Did I miss something?” All I wanted to do was to clean up the shattered crystal and resume my preparations for Nicky’s return. On the plus side, Robert’s actions had certainly kept me from worrying about Nicky for the past hour.

Diane sighed, and the steely glint in her eyes warned me not to push her. “Please just trust me that your absence at this party would be noted. I want this accomplished as quietly as possible, so I’ll ask you to discuss this with no one. Besides, Robert hasn’t agreed to anything yet, and it’s unlikely your presence will inspire his cooperation. The sooner you’re out of here, the sooner I can complete this… transaction. And if you wouldn’t mind, please leave me your key. I’ll lock up when we’re done here and return it to you at the party. Don’t worry, I’ll clean up here. And please hurry.” 

Baffled, but too nervous to argue, I grabbed the blood kit from the table and raced into the bathroom, where I took the quickest shower of my life. Since I’d been asked to hurry, I didn’t bother drying my hair, but instead slicked it up in a high bun that complemented the ballerina style of my dress. As I ran upstairs to retrieve the shoes Amy had selected, with Nicky’s blood-letting kit hidden in my dirty clothes, I saw Diane quietly murmuring into what appeared to be some sort of walkie-talkie.

Hurrying as fast as my shoes would allow, I nodded to Diane’s husband as I passed him heading toward my cube at
a brisk clip. Though he nodded in return, he hurried past me, and I decided I’d left Robert in competent hands.

For once, there was no line leading to the Benelli’s apartment—no surprise since everyone else was already outside. However, upon entering their apartment I realized the courtyard doors were closed, which was very odd. In daylight these doors stayed open except in terrible weather—in which case everyone would have returned inside.

Huh.

I gave a tentative tug on the door handle and found it locked. Then a voice behind me caused me to lose my balance and a strong hand reached out to steady me.

“Need some help little girl?” Startled, I spun around to see Luigi grinning while my mother doubled over in silent laughter.

My mother and Luigi were home early.

CHAPTER
THIRTY
-
SEVEN

“HONEY! I’m so happy to see you!” My
mother recovered from her fit of hilarity and sprang over, wrapping her arms around me before Gigi wrapped his arms around us both and lifted us off the ground.

“But what happened with…? I mean, you weren’t—did the conference end early?” My mother beamed and gave me another hug before pulling me to sit beside her on the Benelli’s ancient chenille sofa.

“You won’t believe the adventures we’ve had, Rory!”

I was sure I could trump her in the adventure department but couldn’t have spoken if I’d wanted to. Of all the challenges I’d anticipated over the next few days, this possibility hadn’t made the list. 

“We left the conference two days ago,” she explained, confusing me further. “And right before sunset yesterday, we were less than a mile from our overnight stop when a deer ran out in front of us.”

I looked at Luigi blankly. “You hit a deer?”

Apparently that
did
happen, who knew?

He extended his hands in the stance of the innocent. “No, your mother spoke correctly,
cara mia
. The deer ran out in front of us and I swerved off road to avoid it. The right side of the truck plowed over a tree stump and broke the front axle.”

I forced myself to ask the expected question. “I’m glad you’re okay, but how did you get back so fast?”

My mother picked it up from there. “As we weren’t far from the shelter, we left the truck and started walking.”

“She had to crawl out through my door,” Luigi added. “Hers was too damaged.”

“Luigi helped me out and we packed everything we could carry and dragged it with us.”

“We didn’t care about the clothing or equipment,” Luigi chimed in, “but the food and water would have been very hard to replace.” My mother elbowed him lightly as if to shut him up, but Luigi only grinned at her.

“Anyway,” she shot him a look of fake sternness, “we reached the shelter with only minutes to spare and, what do you know? Half an hour later we heard a knock at the door. And it was a vampire!”

“Are you serious?” Even though I saw they were both fine, I couldn’t help scanning them, checking for injuries. My mom patted my shoulder.

“Stop that dear, we’re fine. As it turned out, they were friendly vampires.”

“Friendly vampires? You
let them in
? Are you insane?” Okay, maybe that was hypocritical under the circumstances, but I hadn’t had a say in my own introduction to vampires. I certainly wouldn’t have opened the door for one.

My mother laughed gently. “Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. Shortly after dark, two vampires came to the door and called to us. They said they didn’t want to enter and that they worked for Mr. Nickleby.”

I gaped as it sank in. “Your publisher?”

“The very same. They said they worked for Lawrence and had been instructed to stand guard at our overnight shelters.”

“You didn’t know they’d been following you?”

My mother shook her head. “Not a clue. Lawrence offered me an escort when I first wrote him I’d be attending, and I turned him down flat. And believe me,” she spoke primly, “we will be having words about his having ignored my request.”

I looked at her skeptically. “Didn’t he end up helping you?”

She waved a hand airily. “That is hardly the point.”

It sounded like an important point to me, but I’d be wasting my breath to argue. “So what’d they do?”

Luigi smiled indulgently as my mother giggled. “They told us to stay where we were and human assistance would
arrive the next day. And the next morning Rory, damned if Immortal Media didn’t send one of those ghastly red helicopters for us!”

My mouth dropped open. Perhaps I’d underestimated my mother’s notion of adventure, though I still thought I’d win in a contest. “My God! And you got in?”

She shrugged artfully. “What choice did we have? The truck was out of commission and we were days away from anywhere capable of repairs.” Then she laughed. “Besides, the drive wasn’t so much fun I was dying to repeat it.”

“Speak for yourself,” Luigi retorted flirtatiously, which made my mother turn a becoming shade of pink. He lifted her left hand to kiss it. And then I saw the ring.

I stared. “Is that what I think it is?”

My mother’s face turned pinker and even Luigi reddened beneath his tan. Then my mother took my hand. “It is. Luigi and I want to get married. I desperately hope you’ll be happy for us, my darling.”

“I am. Of course I am.” I stammered out.

I mean, what else could I say? After all, I
was
happy for them. I was also shocked.

Luigi beamed, happier than I’d ever seen him, his arm still around my mother. “We wanted to tell you and Nicky together, but that rapscallion of mine appears to have left for his scouting trip,” he added cheerily. “I hope he’s having a good time, but I’d hoped I’d catch him before he left. He’s going to miss one hell of a party.”

Baffled, I forced myself to keep smiling.

Then Gigi turned to my mother. “There are a few new sites we’ve been wanting to check out for a while, out to the East. We deliberately left the last few weeks of summer open so Nicky could check whether any of them were worth a big trip.”

“It’s a shame he’ll miss the party, but at least he cleaned your place before he left,” my mother chimed brightly, looking back at him with adoration. “From everything you said, I was sure you’d come home to a houseful of dirty dishes and mildewed laundry.”

They both chortled as my knees went weak with relief, my frozen smile warming to something slightly more genuine.
I’d forgotten Nicky’s intended trip, but it had bought me some more time to search for him. All I had to do was smile and keep my mouth shut for the time being.

“And you!” my mother exclaimed, turning back to me. “You’ve done a wonderful job. The house barely looks lived in.”

I laughed nervously, hoping it sounded okay.

“We were back by noon and looked everywhere for you—the courtyards, Amy’s place, even the vault. By the time we heard you were off tutoring, everyone had seen my ring and Mayor Morrisey decided to combine her community dinner into a welcome home and engagement party. We’ve been hiding at Beverly’s all afternoon.”

“Wait, this party is for you?”

They both laughed and mom squeezed my hand again. “Even though everyone else
had already seen us we wanted to surprise you. How did we do?”

She looked so thrilled I could only respond weakly, “Consider me stunned.”

“Excellent!” Gigi clapped his hands decisively, pulling out his keys and unlocking the courtyard door.

Of course he has a key
, I thought sourly. Like father, like son.

“And now, my dear Ms. Strong and Mrs. Carriero-to-be, I believe we have a party to attend!” Without another word, he threw the doors open and hauled us both outside—my mom laughing girlishly and me too numb to protest.